Why knowing your stuff inside and out is essential to your success.

It was a couple of years ago now, I was in Melbourne about to bounce out in front of 400+ real estate and sales professionals at a national conference. Prior to that I’d presented to small groups multiple times (14) with the largest being 55. As you can understand I was excited but equally nervous…. Well, more nervous that excited.
Here was a room full of people, peers, industry leaders so I was thinking to myself, what would they think? Would they look at me like I was full of crap, off point, garbage or worse?

About 20 minutes prior to taking the stage, one of the organizers approaches me and advises me the 2 speakers ahead of me were way ahead of schedule. He asked if I could extend my slot from 20 minutes to a full hour….. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity I reply, “Sure, no worries!” Inside the nerves kicked into overdrive.

A minute prior to showtime and the event organiser walks up to me and asks, “you ready?”

I can’t recall my exact response but I confessed, telling him I was feeling very nervous especially having to fill 40 minutes I had not prepared for. He paused looked at me and said something to me that has stuck with me ever since and those words became the basis for this article.

“You know your s#%t right?! You know your s#%t, you’ll be fine.”

Instantly my fear and nerves eased. He knew exactly what I did and that was that I knew my stuff. There’s no way I could have bullshitted my way into a gig of 400+ people if I didn’t know what I was talking about.

The rest is history. I walked out in front of 400+ and handled my business. It was a great experience, one that I am pleased to have had and I learned a great deal from.

Wether it’s presenting to a large crowd, pitching a client or selling a house, one critical pillar of success is knowing your stuff because if you don’t, you’ll eventually get caught out.

It’s imperative for any professional to know, comprehensively the details of what it is their pitching. Too many time when an opportunity presets itself people miss it because they took too much time preparing or researching or even worse, back away from the opportunity because of fear. Fear of being caught out.

A professional is ready to go at the drop of a hat because they know their stuff inside and out.

Personally I try not to take meetings as soon as the opportunity pops up, I’m too busy for that. However if a potential client calls me with an opportunity to sell their house or pitch a development and they’re only available to meet in the next hour because they’re heading interstate or equally as busy, although not ideal, I’m ready to go right there and then if necessary. Sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

It makes you extremely confident when you know you can pitch to anyone, anywhere, anytime. If you build up this skill, it will give you an edge over competitors as chances are you will be more ready than they are. Any potential client will be able to see this.
Luck happens when preparation meets opportunity. The better prepared you are, the luckier you will be.
Top tip for staying match ready:
Block out time each day for spending time in the black. If you don’t know what time in the black is I explain this in other articles but basically its upskilling, learning, sharpening your tools.

Making the time to hone your craft is essential, otherwise your knowledge and skills become obsolete very quickly. Personally I dedicate 1-2 hours every day(depending on my calendar) to source new information, news and things I can implement into my business. Daily.
I’m a reader and a big fan of the right books so this is a must for me to keep learning.
Some people may say that they don’t have enough time to do this… I say making the time to know your stuff is a great place to start.
DR